On August 26th, Dr. Carol Kauffman, the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School and the Director of Faculty Coach Training at Massachusetts General Hospital, gave a leadership presentation to Malden Catholic’s faculty and staff. Dr. Kauffman has been a leadership coach for over 25 years and was excited to help the Malden Catholic staff become better leaders, both professionally and personally.

Dr. Kauffman says she was drawn to Malden Catholic because of her interest in developing leadership programs for millennials and younger people.

“A coach approach is very powerful for leaders at every stage in development” Dr. Kauffman said. “We have a much more complex, fast-moving, unpredictable world…so if we have a group of people who have an idea of where they want to go then they can have a much greater impact” Dr. Kauffman continued.

When asked why learning leadership skills at a young age are so important, Dr. Kauffman said they are crucial because these are skills that will be used throughout life.

“Learning to lead when you are a young person is crucial, and one of the people you are learning to lead is yourself” Dr. Kauffman said. “If you can begin to get a sense of what actually matters to you and to other people…then you will be able to guide the direction of your life much better than if you don’t have that” Dr. Kauffman added.

Presenting alongside Dr. Kauffman was Julie Carrier, a bestselling author, leadership mentor, and former Senior Management Consultant in leadership training and development for the Pentagon. Carrier was featured on MTV’s #1 hit positive show, MADE, to share her message about how girls can improve their self-confidence through coaching.

Carrier followed up Dr. Kauffman’s answer about the importance of leadership by saying, “We are all aware of how powerful leadership development is for adults, and it’s even more powerful when we take those principles, ideas, and practices and we teach them to young people” Carrier stated.

Carrier continued to add that by taking these ideas and mindsets that they are learning important skills before they face other challenges in life as they get older. Carrier took an educational approach to learning these ideas at a young age.

“They are saving a lot of baggage in relearning because they are learning it the right way first” Carrier added. Carrier continued to stress the importance of teaching leadership in an academic setting.

In attendance was Lisa Cenca, Principal of the Malden Catholic School for Girls, who raved about Dr. Kauffman’s coaching approach and how teachers can bring this into the classroom.

“Carol helped us to think about coaching our students rather than just teaching them. She challenged us to work on how we get our students to recognize their talents and live them out” Cenca said.

Theology teacher Deirdre Foley was very fortunate to have Dr. Kauffman at Malden Catholic, and is excited to use the skills she learned moving forward.

“Her method of Coaching by Numbers will benefit both the staff and students here at MC immensely” Foley said. “I am excited to use these skills moving forward to enhance my career here at Malden Catholic!” she added.

Dr. Kauffman started the Institute of Coaching, which is an affiliate of the McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, in 2009 when she received a $2 million award to create the Institute. Dr. Kauffman says the Institute’s mission is to help leadership coaching and health coaching become more established.

Malden Catholic was incredibly honored to have Dr. Kauffman working with its faculty and staff on increasing their leadership skills. Headmaster John Thornburg believes Dr. Kauffman’s presentation was crucial, because of its importance in leadership skills to both staff and students.

“I thought it was crucial to have a world class speaker and presenter” Thornburg said. Thornburg praised Malden Catholic for being able to bring Dr. Kauffman to the school, saying “I don’t think there is a school in the area with that caliber of leadership training” Thornburg added.